Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Facebook Advertises Malware — Again

Want my advice? Don't.

Clearly, Facebook just takes the cash, they don’t ask whether this is good for their millions of users, but if you’re a Macintosh user, you’ll want to steer clear of this month’s offer from “BestMacPhoto.com.” Back in October, there was a Facebook ad for MacPhotoPro, which I was able to determine was a browser hijack. As malware goes, browser hijacks are minor things, though it does mean that someone else is making cash off your browsing habits, and you’re probably providing more information about yourself that you’d care to. We’re not talking some trojan that takes over your computer. Still, my view is: Say no to browser hijacks.

Once again the link in Facebook takes you to a long link that looks like it says “BestMacPhoto.com,” but the real link is: http://bestmacphoto.com/nlp/color/fbmacph/Intensifypro?p1=1&utm_source=fbmacph&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1&utm_content=Intensifypro#. Because I’m foolhardy (and kinda know what I’m doing), I clicked on the “Free Download” button.

Shouldn't the file have a
different name

Shades of last October: Even though it says it’s going to give you IntensifyPro (no such product, and I’d lay the cost of a copy of Intensify that you get the trial version), the installer is still called MacPhotoPro.app. That means the people behind the Facebook page “Apple-Students” are our old friends at Genieo.

Here’s what I said then:

It’s a browser hijack. The program sets your browsers to go to the “Genieo personalized homepage,” which will then bombard you with ads. Wikipedia notes that the company bundles applications that track the user’s behavior and serves advertisements along with the applications they are claiming to install. It seems that “MacPhotoPro” is the trial version of Macphun (photo editing software), with added browser hijack. In the end, you’d have to pay for Macphun to actually use it. And you might have trouble getting rid of the stuff that Genieo has put on your system.

Once again, they’re creating an installer (really using the same one all over again) that installs a piece of trial software at the cost of browser hijack. Look, if you want to try the software out go here, as I presume MacPhun doesn’t install a browser hijack. But the application, after the trial period, will cost you $59.99.

Finally, I did notice this on the sponsoring page, "Apple Students":

Non Official Fans of apple products who are studnets

Studnets?

Share this post with lots of people if you don't what their computer security compromised, or just to piss off Facebook for suggesting that we download malware.

Update: Although I've opened up the comments policy on this blog (initially all comments had to be approved by me before the appeared), obviously spammy comments go into a spam box (and I delete them). I've received notice of such "comments" from a user with the initials NJ. In each case, the comments have gone directly into the spam box. Nice try NJ from Bangladesh, but you can give up, okay?
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